Two weeks ago I first posted about my new computer.
I was so proud, and, just like any new Daddy, I was showing pictures to anyone who would look.
Then I dragged you all through the (seemingly) endless permutations in layout and posted all the benchmark/burn-in tests that I could run.
The machine still runs peachy. But...
Lately, the weather has turned a bit nippier and I've had the heat on more. Ambient temps are therefor higher. As expected my case temps also rose a bit. Nothing drastic, mind you, but definately a bit higher.
So I started playing with my super-duper fan control set-up and... basically nothing.
I then started to turn off the fans one by one.
Still nothing.
To make a long story short, I have now completely removed all of the fans that I so lovingly installed and spent hours wiring neatly into place. No change.
Wait, that's not completely true...my HDD temp has skyrocketed all the way up to 28C.
I am now running with only the fan on my Zalman heatsink and the two fans in my PSU ( and if it wasn't such a pain to do, I would be tempted to disable at least one of those...) and my CPU/motherboard temps have remained dead consistent at 41C/29C.
Running the burn-in test for 1 hour will raise the CPU temp to 43-44C, then it drops right back down.
I find this somewhat puzzling.
I went to ALOT of trouble cutting holes and mounting fans, testing airflow and moving/retesting, all apparently to no avail.
Don't get me wrong, I think that 41C is an excellent result for a moderately OCed system that is air cooled.
After some thought I have concluded that I am basically dealing with some basic, immutable properties of my particular heatsink. I'm not sure who mentioned it (John Lennon?Lynx? VB?), but copper, while being very good at absorbing heat, is not very good at shedding it. And this is one BIG heatsink. It would take more airflow than I am currently able (or willing) to provide to get this thing to dissipate heat any more efficiently. The very low rise in temp from idle to stress conditions indicates that the heatsink is very effective at absorbing the BTUs, but it's refusal to drop it's temp even when flooded with fresh air tells me that I've pretty much reached a dead end.
One side benefit of all this is that the case is very quiet. And my PSU might live fractionally longer, since it is basically doing nothing most of the time now.
Anyone need some fans? I seem to have a surplus....
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